Teachers want their pay, not stories about IFMIS breakdown

December 24, 2016 3:23 pm

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KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion told Capital FM News that teachers expect to be paid by the end of this month according to the Employment Act/FILE

By SIMON NDONGA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 24 – The Kenya National Union of Teachers says the breakdown of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) should not be used as an excuse for the delay of teachers’ salaries.

KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion told Capital FM News that teachers expect to be paid by the end of this month according to the Employment Act.

He stated that the government should put in place alternative systems to ensure that tutors get their pay.

“We really worked hard especially on the payment of salaries for teachers so the IFMIS system should not be used as an excuse not to pay teachers,” he stated. “As a union, we have not received any formal communication from TSC regarding this delay and as such teachers are waiting for their salaries.”

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had asked its members to bear with salary delays following the breakdown of the IFMIS system mid this month.

The Commission called for patience as the technical hitch was being resolved by the National Treasury’s technical team.

The Council of Governors earlier said that the hitch has resulted in a cash crisis as county workers and service providers have not been paid.

CoG Finance Committee Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya revealed that most counties are now stuck financially with his county now falling behind in disbursements by a month.

Oparanya who is the Kakamega Governor said that IFMIS has not been operational for the past four days.

He stated that as a result of this, suppliers and employees of the County Governments will not receive their payments for this month.

Oparanya urged the Treasury to consider letting counties adopt their own payment systems that can be integrated with that of the National Government.

He explained that the Council of Governors has been lodging complaints with nothing being done.

IFMIS has been at the centre of scandals at offices including the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Health ministry.

Matters including the mishandling of passwords arose during investigations on the scandals.